Competitors of verbal nouns

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 5 discusses competitors of verbal nouns: gerunds and gerundives, participles, and infinitives, in order to determine which properties they share with verbal nouns, in which contexts they are interchangeable, and what restrictions apply to their use. Gerunds and gerundives are largely interchangeable with verbal nouns, especially in the ablative and the prepositional accusative with the semantic functions of means and purpose adjuncts. Competition between gerunds, gerundives, and verbal nouns is strongest at the noun phrase level. They are used in similar contexts, but gerunds and gerundives allow a greater complexity than verbal nouns. The gerunds and gerundives compensate for the lack of verbal nouns only in the case of semantically weak verbs, verbs that do not form verbal nouns, and strongly polysemous verbs. Participial clauses, which situate an action in time, compete with verbal nouns in the functions of subject, object, and adjuncts of means.